What brought you to the debate board?
I came to PO in 2006 when I started getting a bit of baby fever, I started out on the Thinking of Conceiving board. I had no idea that the GDB even existed. But honestly, there was only so long that I could talk about wishing I could TTC (not even TTC'ing - just wishing we were there yet. LOL!) Then I followed Jordan and Arianna over to the A/A board, which was thriving at the time, and THEN I followed some of those ladies over to the GDB, and I was completely hooked. What can I say, I think I'm just naturally argumentative.

What do you do for a living? (Or do you stay at home?)
I am a Client Executive (basically an Account Rep) for a merchant services provider (so like, when you go to a store or online and the merchant takes your credit card - my company is the one that provides that service that allows the merchants to accept your payment. It's credit cards, but I don't work on the cardholder side, I work on the merchant side.) My merchants are the very large global relationships (meaning clients that do business with us in more than one country, such as clients that process in the US and also Canada or Europe or Latin America.) It's kind of fun because I get to do business with and develop relationships with people all over the world. I'm hoping that this will translate into more international business travel so that I can see some cool places on the company dime, but so far the only international travel I have done is Vancouver. Which was gorgeous.

You have a day all to yourself. What do you do with it? Sleep in! Oh how I love sleeping in, but T is an "early to bed early to rise" kind of guy, so 7:30 is usually the absolute latest he sleeps on weekends, and even that is rare. So first, I sleep in until like 9. Then I lay in bed for at least another hour reading and being totally lazy, another luxury that I love and cannot afford. And then? Haha, I don't even know. I can't even imagine having a whole day all to myself. That's pretty sad. I'd love to say that I would really do something excellent to pamper myself, but the truth is that I would probably guilt myself into doing laundry and cleaning, because that's what I always do when I get some time home alone.

Did you decide to cut your hair short, or not?
Nope, I took your advise and left it alone. I'm just sick of it, but it's probably for the best that I just let it be because every time I cut it I hate it. It's really thick but also really fine, and it doesn't hold a curl or style at all, so basically it always looks exactly the same, long straight, and parted down the middle or on the side. I've been rocking that look since 1995. But no matter what I do to it, it always ends up looking the same anyway, so I may as well leave well enough alone.

Did you grow up in CO?
No, I moved to CO when I was 17. I was born in Joplin MO (of the tornado fame) and lived there until I was 6, and then we moved to rural OH, which is where I lived until I was a senior in high school. My dad got a job in CO, and that was all she wrote. I hated moving then, but now I love it here.

What is one hobby or skill you have a secret desire to pick up?
Hmmmmmm. I've kind of wanted to go rock climbing with my SIL for a while now, but I've been intimidated because I don't have a lot of upper body strength.

Did you play sports in high school?
No. I was in the Choir and Newspaper, but I didn't play any sports. In retrospect, I wish that I had because I think that would have given me a better foundation for staying active as an adult, but at the time I wasn't really interested in sports, and my parents never really pushed me to find something that I liked.

Describe the cutest art project T has brought home from preschool this year.
He made this headdress/hat thing that was pretty crazy looking, and then he made me wear it in the grocery store. That was pretty funny. But my favorite was the bats they made using the outline of their hands. They traced around their hands on black construction paper and cut them out, and those were the wings. I like it because it shows how small his hands were. Plus it's a Halloween decoration, and Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year.

What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Definitely trick or treating, although I pretty much love everything about it. I love decorating my house with "spooky" decorations, and carving Jack O' Lanterns, and baking the pumpkin seeds, and watching "scary" movies on TV. I pretty much love all of it.

Describe your favorite piece of jewelry.
My engagement/wedding ring. Okay, the truth is, DH has gotten me some very nice jewelry over the years, but I'm just not a huge jewelry wearer. Like, I think it is pretty, but once I get it, I rarely bother with it. But I do truly love my wedding ring. DH did a very nice job on it.

Do you spend more time onlineor watching TV?
I think probably online. Whenever I feel like I have time at work, I am usually online. TV I can mostly give or take, although I do have some shows (such as the Walking Dead and Dexter) that I am hooked on.

Which do you like better The Walking Dead or Dexter?
Oh, tough call. Dexter is really good this season, but there have been other seasons that I haven't liked as much. I've really liked both seasons of the Walking Dead (although I'm totally ready for them to find Sophia already and move on from that story line). So overall, I guess I pick Dexter, but that's discounting pretty much all of Season 2.

What do you like about admin'ing on PO? Wht do you dislike?
Like - This is going to sound bad, but I can't really think of a specific thing that I really like about it, that I couldn't get from just being a poster. LOL!!!! I guess just really like the debate board and really like the posters that I've gotten to know here, and I like trying to be a resource for them, and keeping the debates flowing.

Dislike - I actually hate it when I have to "hand slap". I hate playing the Bad Cop, and I hate the angry PMs that I always get (usually from both sides!) when I have to intervene. LOL!

What is your favorite characetristic about yourson?
He's so freaking funny.

How many fingers am I holding up?
None! You're typing! Fingers on the home row, please.

If you could get one present on Christmas and money was no issue, what would it be (and you ahve to pick something that can be bought, not some Miss America kind of answer)?
A new house? If that's not really a Christmasy gift, maybe a huge gift certificate to Kohl's or some place like that so I could go clothes shopping.

What would you prefer a maid or a cook?
A maid. I have a cook (DH). Oh I would love a maid. I'm actually expecting to change jobs in the next couple of month and I've already promised myself that if they offer me anything over X, the first thing I'm going to do is hire a cleaning lady to come in once a week.

Any musical skills?
I can sing fairly well. I mean, you're not going to see me on American Idol or anything, but I can carry a tune.

How did you meet your DH?
Mutual friends

Hardest thing about parenting?
I'm not the most patient person in the world, and my DS (maybe all preschoolers) is a born dawdler. Anytime I need him to move more quickly (like getting ready for work in the mornings when I'm already running behind) he stubbornly moves at these crazy glacier-like crawl, while also taking special care to insist on doing things himself, very slowly. Like closing his underwear drawer himself. Slooo-oooo-wwly. Drives me absolutely insane. So definitely just having patience is my biggest struggle.

Your biggest parenting triumph?
I don't know if this is really a "triumph" but I think that I'm a good mom because I genuinely enjoy doing "kid" things with my son. Like, I think walking around the neighborhood while he rides his trike, or taking him to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins or drawing pictures for him to color and decorate his box "house" with is genuinely fun. So I guess my mom strength is just that I'm always up for doing something fun with him and spending time with him like that.

Favorite TV show or movie from childhood?
Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell

If you could pick any other profession besides the one you're in now, what would it be?
I always wanted to own a book store.

Toilet paper over or under?
Over! Are there actually people that put it under?

Least favorite holiday?
I don't really have one that I hate. Some of the Jewish holidays drag a little bit, mostly because most of them are multiple days, and we always have to dress up, and we're always late because it seems like they're always during the week and we have to drive across town after work and no one seems to get why we don't just take the day off, and they feature extensive readings in Hebrew which I don't speak,. Haha, okay after that litany of complaints it probably sounds like I hate them, but I really don't. I just sometimes wish that they weren't so, erm, frequent.

What were you like as a teenager?
I was painfully shy as a little kid, and elementary school was actually really lonely and hard for me, but I felt like I really came into my own when I was in jr high/high school. Not that I was a super popular kid or anything, but I had my own circle of friends that I really loved and enjoyed, and always had a boyfriend and a job and lots of things going on. Probably my favorite year as a teenager was my junior year. I was taking free college classes at a local community college in the afternoons, so I only had to be at my high school in the mornings, which was perfect. I got to see all of my friends, and then leave and feel like such a grown up going to college. I had a serious boyfriend, and I worked part time as a hostess in one of those steakhouses where you can throw peanut shells on the floor, and all of the employees have to line dance and sing. I was in the choir, and I wrote a lot for the school newspaper. I just really felt on top of things that year. Then we moved across the country when I was a senior, and everything changed. That sucked, but I survived.